Sunday, September 29, 2013

Apologies for the lack of updates; the garden and the pressure cooker have been a distraction as the harvest continues! With the wet weather this weekend, I finished off 53 1/72-scale Imex Union infantry that I'm going to use as dismounted 7th cavalry.

There are three command bases (and apparently some highly localized wind issues...). Below is a sampling of the foot poses. The long guns are wrong but they will do given the dearth of 7th cavalry foot sets. And I have the start of a northern ACW army (yipee...).

Can anyone spot the AWI refugee in the troops below? Also, what is with the pair of guys in a box sitting on a barrel drinking from a tin cup. I suppose a nice diorama figure--not so useful in gaming

Up next: I have club this week. I've just built and spray primed four 1/72-scale gatling guns with British crews that will get some attention this week (weather pending). After that, there are various ancients milling about on the shelves.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

We had eight guys at the club last night, with four RPGing (gasp!). Chen and Dave played a game of Memoir 44 using microarmour.

Scott agreed to give 1775 Rebellion a go. He chose the British while I played the wiley Americans (or so I like to think). The opening part of the game saw some battle sin New England before I managed to bag Nova Scotia and cause him some major deployment issue.

He cagily hosed my southern strategy and tried to lock up New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I managed to beat this back and the sent an expedition up Lake Champlain to make a mess in Canada.

By the time I managed to end the game, I had enough colonies locked up to win, but just barely as Scott had a late-game rally. Below you can see him winding up to clear the board in disgust! It was a heck of a close game.

Up next: I still have some 1/72 7th cavalry guys and, with the garden winding down, I expect painting to start up soon.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Bruce popped by last night for a game of 1775 Rebellion by Academy Games. This is a new game I got last week from a kickstarter. It is similar to their 1812: The Invasion of Canada game but I think more interesting. You can play with 2-4 players and things kick off in 1775 as below.

The game has a random activation sequence within each turn and what an active player can do is then dictated by the card(s) he plays. Combat is via iconic dice and we referred to the QRS exactly once (can you play more than one event card per turn? yep) during the game. The winner is the guy with the most colonies (there are 15) at the (variable) end of the game.

Bruce was for King and I for Congress. Bruce's strategy was to lock up the north and then take the middle states and eventually squeeze me to the edges. My strategy was to hold as much of New England as I could, sew up the south and then try to time an offensive with the end game point to strip him of colony control.

Mid-game I was in control of the south but Bruce held the north and the middle of the board. I kept waiting for a water movement card so I could land behind him in the north and grab Nova Scotia and Quebec but the card never came. So I launched an offensive through New York as well as one in the south to strip him of control of colonies when I triggered the end game (below). This also severely cramped Bruce's ability to deploy reinforcements.

Overall, an interesting game that (after one play) seems to recreate some of the geographic and logistical dynamics of the AWI. The politics of the war is conveyed through control of colonies (and the other guy's efforts to destabilize them). It certainly seems to have more layers than 1812 and the native allies mechanic is quite interesting. The variable end point adds a certain amount of tension--you can't let the other get too far ahead because he might be able to end the game before you can climb back.

Up next: I will bring this out to the club next week. With cooler weather, I have returned to the painting table (what a mess!) for the first time in more than a month and am close to finishing some more 1/72-scale 7th cavalry. I think the just need some gunmetal, the dip and basing.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

One of my longer-term projects is a series of games based upon the Canadian Northwest (Riel Rebellions, Monroe Doctrine, etc). So far I've done some NWMP and some American 7th Cavalry. What I needs, though, is some locals.

There is a dearth of suitable 1/72 Metis figures (although BUM has released a few kits on this theme). As I mull suitable substitutions, I knocked off some Plains Indians. These fellows (47 foot and two mounted) are from Revell's "Indians" kits.

Nice enough figures and easy to paint. Very active poses and a good mix of weapons. Not sure what the guy second from the left below is doing (did he get shot? try out his pose and see the reason for my query).

Up next: Some more 1/72-scale 7th cavalry, this time on foot with paint conversions of some Imex ACW union troops. Then perhaps, back to Imperial Rome.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

These fellows are the rest of the MiniArt 1/72 4th-century Germanic warrior box.

There are 20 foot in five poses in this box. Not a bad selection with only a few shields to attach.

These guys would do well for late Roman opponents, mercenaries or dark age troops. These guys will serve as Germans and mercenary warriors in and against my Imperial Romans for CCA. The fellow throwing the spear would be a useful light troop.

Buddy with the sword and the guy with the spear and shield look Arthurian to me while the other three could be Saxons.

Below I have compared the MiniArt and Strelets Germans I have (Strelets are the centre two). Strelets are a bit chunkier and less refined but I think they'll serve well enough together.

Up next: Some 1/72-scale American Indians for a Riel Rebellion game I'm working on.